Echo, Echo
by Irwein
Summary: -Season 1, AU- Tieria Erde was KIA during the battle against the newly developed GN-X. Lockon wouldn't accept that. Was revenge the only path for him?
1. 1 of 4

**Characters/Pairings:** Lockon, Tieria; Setsuna, Lyle, Regene. Tieria x Lockon if you squint?**  
Warnings: **None.  
**Notes:** My take on "What if Lockon couldn't protect Tieria," or "What if Lockon had to chase after Tieria instead of the other way," or "Why doesn't Regene get more love." j/k, j/k. Credits to Jason Walker's Echo for the title and theme. Enjoy!

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[** Echo**, Echo ]

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_Veda has... abandoned me?_

The connection was severed. The background buzz of information had been cut off. There was only darkness and silence engulfing him. Virtue drifted lifelessly along a current despair.

There was nothing left. Without Veda he...

_I am..._

—the one chosen to be a Gundam Meister, the one _made by Veda _for this purpose, and now he was_—_

* * *

"Tieria?"

The thought hadn't crossed his mind in the brief moment of darkness, but as the backup system had initiated again Lockon felt the sting of fear. Virtue had not reacted _—_Tieria had drifted too far away.

_Or was he always this far apart?_

* * *

—a failure? Or a successful specimen? One created to fulfil a role and then to be disposed of?

Somewhere in his mind, he knows it's logical. He's not human. He's a tiny extension of Veda that has lived up its usefulness. Like data discarded any other day after it's been read, analyzed, torn into pieces, turned into nothingness.

Red suddenly chased away the darkness. Blood red. It was slightly comforting. _Fitting._

His fingers stretched towards the controls. _The plan, _he thought vaguely. _The plan must keep going..._

* * *

"Damn... Not fast enough!"

Lockon pushed Dynames to the limit, in a race against time, seconds trickled by and _it was still so far away!_

_Tieria, move! _he thought forcefully, as if his will alone would reach his comrade and wake him up from his stupor. He wouldn't make it in time, he just knew_—_

He saw the flash of red, an almost graceful unsheathing and his thoughts were no longer logical _—move! No, stop! STOP! Get out of—!_

Lockon fired.

* * *

There was no shock, no pain. He'd welcomed death with both arms wide open. It wasn't like last time when instinct had taked hold of him and he'd _fought_ to survive. No, back then there was still Veda, there was still that connection he'd always know, the one he'd been born with.

There was still a chance back then. Not now. Everything was hopeless. Without Veda his existence was...

Warmth trickled out of his body. Everything was red _—_from the weapon stuck into his side, to his blood, to his eyes that would always remain that hue because there was _nothing _to connect to anymore.

He thought he heard a voice... But there was no one, he was alone in this sea of red and he dismissed it as a trick played by his mind.

_Shutting down..._

His head lolled on his shoulder, body drooping lifelessly forward.

Red. Blinding red. He finally closed his eyes and welcomed the darkness for the last time.

* * *

A second too late. _A second too _late.

The shot landed cleanly on the target, like expected _—_but it was already too late. A second too late was too much.

Dynames rammed into the enemy Mobile Suit, sending it into a safer distance before it blowed up into smithereens, or so he would like to think.

Lockon didn't waste any time calling out for him, he ripped away at the scraps of metal, reaching out_—_

His world shook. They were being fired upon relentlessly. Even with the shield, he_—_ they_—_

_"Lockon! Retrieve Virtue's GN Drive and retreat!"_

_No, _he thought furiously. He wouldn't let it happen again: losing someone he cared about in front of his own eyes.

_I... am really no good at this, am I, mother, father, Amy...?_

* * *

Silence was heavy, suffocating. They had expected sacrifices, but perhaps not this soon. Or perhaps it was the first time everyone had felt so vulnerable. Without Veda, they had lost a Gundam Meister. It wasn't as if it was directly related, one would think, but for the crew of Ptolemaios, in that moment, the thought clouded their minds.

The hangar was a bit too empty. It was missing one fourth of the usual... It was like seeing that gaping hole in their hearts physically.

Though, maybe it was just him. Because Tieria _—_surprisingly, it didn't hurt pronouncing that name as much as he thought, as if he'd detached the name from the meaning behind it (_he was just too stubborn to admit the fact that it _hurt)_—_ was never close to anyone.

But he had been there. It was someone who actually shared a meal with them in awkward silence or with harsh remarks earlier that day, but _he had been there._

His fist slammed into the wall. He knew it was useless to blame anyone, to blame himself. Yet taking it out on his slow reaction, on his poor aim, on his panicking _—_it was easier to swallow it. He clenched his fist tighter.

_Is this my only path forward? Revenge?_

* * *

Lockon thought that afterwards, there would be glorious gratification. Or a twinge of happiness. Anything.

But not this feeling of emptiness that had him reduced to a mantra of _"Sorry, sorry, I'm sorry... Lyle? Amy, mom, dad... sorry... I'm sorry..." _

He drifted aimlessly in the space, the Earth a dimly lit globe that mocked him.

_You are unfit to be a Gundam Meister, Lockon Stratos._

He blinked, trying to clear his vision enough to search for the source of the voice. The effort was fruitless, as some salty liquid blocked his view and threatened to suffocate him.

* * *

"Ne, Ribbons... you wouldn't object to me playing around a bit, would you?"


	2. 2 of 4

**Characters/Pairings:** Lockon, Tieria; Setsuna, Lyle, Regene. Tieria x Lockon if you squint?**  
Warnings: **None.  
**Notes:** I felt Lockon was quite OOC in here, but you'll be the judge to that. To _KyoShi8018_: Thank you for reviewing! Haha, I like Tieria a lot too; I hope you like this chapter also.

_Early update for you amazing people who have read this little drabble~_

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[** Echo**, Echo ]  
_Sometimes when I close my eyes..._

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"I thought you would've sold her," Lockon said as he patted the resilient Lancia fondly.

"Neil." From his tone, Lyle wasn't all that happy to see him. "Never thought I'd meet you here."

Lockon's lips twitched slightly upwards. "How about we have coffee to conmemorate our great reunion of sorts?"

Lyle took a long drag from his cigarette before carefully blowing the smoke skywards. He stomped on the half burnt stick and threw the Lancia's keys into Lockon's expectant hand.

He sped away from the gloomy clouds that threatened rain at the cementery.

* * *

Setsuna sometimes thought about the past. About the world before Celestial Being and the one they had left behind.

Somewhere deep inside him he began to understand that peace could not be attained by force. Yet when the only ones that had the resolve to stand up to violence were only broken people that only knew resentment and force... What could be done?

He covered the Gundam Exia's left shoulder with a cloth and tied it securily. He pulled and tightened the knots.

Setsuna sometimes felt glad that Tieria Erde wasn't here to witness the world that they had created.

* * *

"So, Lyle," Lockon began as they sat down at a table for two in a crowded café, "how're things over at Kataron?"

His brother inmediately tensed, eyes searching him suspiciously. "What are you? An agent from the Federation or a long lost brother who is suddenly worried about the sibling he hasn't seen for what? Eight, ten years?"

Lockon almost laughed. "You're so cold to me, Lyle!" _I'm neither. I've watched over you for all these years yet I couldn't bring myself to even contact you._

_I know, I know, you crazy stalker. _Lyle stared absently at the "No smoking" sign overhead. He decided to change the topic.

"What's with the patch?"

"A scar of war," Lockon said easily. He patted the material over his eye. "Thought I'd die, but it turns out that Lady Luck really loves me.

"But you know, Lyle, I fought to change the world... and now look how it is."

Lyle leaned back in his chair, hands in his coat's pockets, regarding him almost carefully. "Fight? I never thought you'd enroll into the military—"

"I was a Gundam Meister of Celestial Being." Taking in his brother's evident surprise, he continued on, "As you can see, I'm not as good as I _need_ to be." He gestured towards his eyepatch.

"You want be to become your replacement, is that what you want to say?" Lyle's words were full of resentment.

"Lyle, do you want to change the world? Do you have the resolve to do so?" Lockon frowned. "Because I couldn't. I couldn't change, I couldn't leave behind my —_our_— past; I put revenge before my mission... And I never forgave myself for letting down the ones I cared about." He glanced at Lyle briefly before returning to glare at the table between them. "I lost a comrade when I could've saved him if only _I'd noticed sooner_."

He sagged in his chair. "I'm becoming an old man, aren't I, Lyle?"

Lyle pushed a recently arrived cup of streaming coffee towards him. "Yes, you are."

They sipped at their coffee silently; the last time they had a shot at it Lyle had ended up storming out of the café after a few words.

"Here," Lockon placed a data storage device on the table, "you'll find information about us."

With that, he stood up. Lyle found his brother's cup empty, even though he knew Neil disliked being hasty with the coffee.

"About your merry party," Lockon said as he passed Lyle, "the Security Department will start to suppress all Kataron bases in Europe. Take care."

* * *

He drifted amidst the many displays of encrypted information. This dim light, the flow of data, they were familiar, comforting. He'd known this since he was created, since he'd been awakened.

Back then...

_Back then...?_

There was that void again. The one he dare not touch. He knew, back then, he'd lost it all. He'd lost that link, that part of him that made him feel complete, secure.

He flinched away. He wouldn't wander there again.

* * *

Lockon Stratos never thought he'd have to pilot a Gundam again, but comrade's life depended on it. And he'd sworn that he wouldn't lose anyone again.

"Sorry, Haro, please bear with me."

The orange robot flapped its ears energetically. "No problem! No problem!"

"Alright. Cherudim Gundam, Lockon Stratos, _nerai utsuze!_"

_I'll miss this._

* * *

"Hm, never thought I'd meet you _here_."

Regene Regetta drifted lazily through the chamber. As the other didn't respond, he reached through Veda, playfully poking here and there until the system's firewalls began pushing both of them out.

Suddenly, narrowed garnet eyes glared into his.

"Regene Regetta."

He smirked. Activating the propulsors on his flight suit, he put some distance between them before turning around and heading towards the entrance. "Come, I have an interesting mission for you, Tieria Erde."


	3. 3 of 4

**Characters/Pairings:** Lockon, Tieria; Setsuna, Lyle, Regene. Tieria x Lockon if you squint?**  
Warnings: **None.  
**Notes:** Here you go, the third part! Originally, I had planned for four parts, but while writting this chapter I got caught on with lots of stuff I wanted to include... So it's probable there will be a fifth part.  
To _Random Reader_: I'm happy you've found this story enjoyable. Taking a shot at the topic from another angle is certainly refreshing (and it gives a lot of food for the thought). I hope to hear (well, _read_) your thoughts of this chapter, also (:

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[** Echo**, Echo ]  
_Once again..._

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"It's been four years, already?"

"Lockon Stratos."

"You haven't changed much, except you've grown bigger." Lockon leaned forwards, smiling. "I hope you've been drinking your quota of milk."

"This Gundam... is it from Celestial Being?"

_As expected, it's the Gundam he notices first. _"Of course, you Gundam-idiot."

They were soon interrupted.

"Setsuna F. Seiei! _Have you been piloting a Gundam?_" Lockon frowned. From the young man's tone he could gather this would be one hell of meet and greet.

* * *

Tieria had observed the skirmish with displeasure.

Humans were riddled with countless shortcomings. Even with the most recent technology at their disposal, they couldn't match their mobile suits' capabilities.

"This is why—" he started his GN-XIII from its repose mode, "—Innovators should be the ones to carry out Aeolia Schenberg's plan."

* * *

"Enemy approaching! Enemy approaching!"

Lockon took advantage of the momentary distraction and forced the handgun out of Saji Crossroad's grasp.

"Setsuna, take cover!" he shouted as he threw the gun towards its owner. He leapt towards the Cherudim Gundam and climbed into the cockpit.

"Haro, how many enemies are coming our way?"

"One mobile suit! One mobile suit!"

"Eh? Seems like someone's quite confident," Lockon commented and blasted out of the space colony's hangar just in time to avoid enemy fire. A visual of his enemy appeared at the left side of his screen. "Haro, keep an eye out for my right side! Let's charge in!"

* * *

Although the GN-XIII's mobility left much to desire, Tieria avoided the Gundam's shots with relative ease. From observing his enemy's movements and reflexes, Tieria could effortlessly conclude that his right side was blind.

_His?_

Tieria avoided another series of shots, retaliating almost half-heartedly. Why had he refered of the Gundam pilot as a "he"? Granted, from Veda's information, the third generation of Gundam Meisters had been all males, yet...

—_red, red, and silence _—_no connection_—

He started and cursed himself for his distraction. He was done toying; he'd show them the difference between Innovators and humans, he'd show them the way it should have been—

* * *

_As expected from A-Laws... They're skilled. _Lockon gritted his teeth. _They got their eye on my blind side._

_"Lockon! We're on our way as back up!" _

Lockon didn't have time to answer Lasse as the enemy mobile suit clashed with him. He'd parried the blow of the GN Lance with one of the Beam Pistols. His opponent wasted no time and in the momentum of the recoil, they opened fire. Lockon maneuvered with some difficulty to avoid the onslaught as it was angled so he couldn't see _that_ well.

Suddenly, he couldn't see the enemy at all. Out of instinct he propelled the Cherudim out at 4 o'clock and reeled as he narrowly avoided being fired upon from underneath.

_This maneuver...!_

"Is this all your potential?" A sound only transmission was heard in the Cherudim's cockpit. Lockon couldn't help but start in shock. The red mobile suit enclosed. Lockon took aim and didn't dare breathe. "You..." the too-familiar-to-be-true voice said, "are unfit to be a Gundam Meister!"

* * *

Tieria charged. He would eliminate all the hindrances to the Plan, that was—

"Tieria!" the Gundam Meister shouted through the open channel. "Tieria! What are you doing in that mobile suit? We thought you'd _died_—"

His response was to fire indiscriminatingly upon the Gundam. Even so, the other pilot wasn't deterred from talking to him like if they'd been acquaintained.

"_Tieria! Answer me! Are you with A-Laws? Why have you turned against us?_"

Something about the urgency of the pilot's voice stirred something within him. How did he know Tieria's name...?

—_darkness, drifting, falling_—

"... I will not go _back_," Tieria found himself saying. "You who are aberrations to the Plan shall be exterminated."

* * *

Lockon, speechless with a myriad of emotions, steeled himself for Tieria's renewed assault. However, as promised, the Ptolemaios II had arrived and began firing against Tieria's mobile suit.

He saw it evade all projectiles, and before fleeing, it seemed as if he'd shot a last baleful glare at Lockon.

The voices calling out for him —he heard them far away. All he could focus on now was Tieria Erde's cold voice echoing, his despise reververating.

* * *

_Huh, how very disappointing. _Regene Regetta's thoughts were whispered mockingly to him.

"I've accomplished my main objective, and yours, as I see. You shouldn't complain." Having said that, Tieria forced Regene's link shut.

He frowned, mulling over the fact that a Gundam Meister was able to recognize him by his voice alone. _The way he evaded my last maniovre... It seemed like he'd read it completely._

Tieria decided to shrug it off for the moment. He wouldn't be able to dig more into it without Veda's data.

* * *

"Honestly... your mischief probes at its boundaries, Regene Regetta."

* * *

Lockon didn't dare mention anything about the enemy pilot in the eve of Setsuna's return. He'd brushed it off as him having gotten rusty at piloting to the rest of the crew and promptly retreated to the confines of his room at the first opportunity.

He'd let everyone get comfortable again, talk to their new prisoner-passenger and...

* * *

The moment Lyle stepped on the Ptolemaios II, he knew he was no longer Lockon Stratos.

He'd renounced his own name when he became a Gundam Meister. By all means, Lockon Stratos had been felled in battle four years ago.

He had died as Lockon Stratos.

Now, he was just some fellow named "Neil Dylandy" again.

* * *

His hands supported his head as he slumped forwards, his elbows digging into the cold metal railing. Neil sighed.

It had been a stressful, tiring and quite emotional day for the crew. After the brief celebration for Allelujah's rescue, he found himself at the hangar.

Yes, they had made a toast, congratulated everyone for their efforts, but no one dared to say, "We're complete again!" Lyle's —no, Lockon's— introduction to the team had been awkward at most, but with only two able Gundams they had to at least work along.

Neil gazed absently at the fourth Gundam in the hangar. Four years had passed and they had rebuilt and repaired their Gundams. Yet they would never be complete again. Maybe, like himself, Tieria Erde was to be replaced sometime soon. He'd just be another name recorded and cast away. Just like "Lockon Stratos" and this "Neil Dylandy".

_No, _he thought forcefully. _We're both still alive, whether or not our names are erased_—

_What of Tieria Erde? _A voice interrupted him. One that sounded quite like a scornful Ly— Lockon Stratos. _He's an enemy now, isn't he? So he's most likely as dead to Celestial Being as a certain former Gundam Meister._

_Tieria... he..._

_Why are you scared to tell them? You too threw the Plan away to chase after revenge and because of that, you lost almost all of your treasured comrades. You kept around out of guilt, didn't you? Because you destroyed their _—your— _family. But they let you in again. So trusting, so sympathetic, _so broken_..._

_I..._

_Neil Dylandy. What a pitiful man. This is your punishment _—_to be cast away by the very people that you've protected. Because you _failed. _See Tieria now? If you had taken that hit for him_—

Neil started as a hand came to rest on his shoulder.

"Setsuna."

"Neil Dylandy." Double O's pilot regarded him seriously now he had his attention. "The A-Laws mobile suit that engaged you in combat at Proud —tell me all about it."

* * *

Regene Regetta observed as the newly rolled out GNZ-003 Gadessa had its first taste of blood. Combat data poured in, and to Regene it was most pleasing.

He'd forced his link to Tieria Erde open, and if the other felt intruded, he gave no sign. He saw a city bathed in red flames and red blood. He saw a child frozen in front of what must have been their home.

Regene felt Tieria Erde's hand tighten around the controls, and he too placed certain pressure at the hands hesitating at pressing the triggers, almost rassuringly. In a flash, there was no more.

He smirked, closing off the link. Data gathering complete.


End file.
